Red of the Six
by King and Commoner
Summary: The gangs of Kanto City have stood on the brink of war for over a year, and just as the tensions are at their highest, three of the most famous trainers in the city disappear. It is up to the last trainer to find his friends and save his city. His name is Red, and nothing will stand in his way.
1. Chapter 0

**A/N: Allow me to introduce you all to my second story on this site. I would like to mention that it will be far more serious than A Bar in Seireitei and might get incredibly violent at times. Welcome to Red of the Six.**

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Ch. 0: Prologue

Normal.

Fighting.

Flying.

Poison.

Ground.

Rock.

Bug.

Ghost.

Steel.

Fire.

Water.

Grass.

Electric.

Ice.

Dragon.

Dark.

Psychic.

There are 17 types of pokemon. There are 17 ways for a raging beast to kill you. I have seen a zubat drinking from the neck of an innocent child. I have seen a mother drowning in a sea of grimers while her child screams. I have watched people burned, electrocuted and frozen. I have looked into the eyes of people whose minds were torn to shreds or who had their dreams ripped from their brains and devoured. I have examined the corpses crushed by avalanches and sliced by whirlwinds. People in the cities forget that pokemon exist outside of their innocent pets. They forget the look in the eyes of a truly wild pokemon. I never forgot that. I couldn't forget that. I am Red, the most efficient private investigator in Kanto City. But I have another title too. I am one of the few who ventures outside this city and faces the wilds outside. I am a Pokemon Trainer.


	2. Chapter 1: Supply of One

Ch. 1 Supply of One

My office is not the prettiest place in the world. My desk is always cluttered, usually with bills and empty takeout containers. There is an old couch along one wall, it's covered in stains and it's got a few holes but a pillow and a blanket it make it as good as most mattresses I've had a chance to use. Across from the couch my antique of a TV is playing the news like always. Not that that's all I want to watch, it's just the only channel the damn thing gets anymore.

I sifted through the unpaid bills on my desk; lifting each one from among the clutter just long enough to let the bare bulb on the ceiling remind me I couldn't afford to pay it just yet before returning it to the mess. I needed to get another case real soon. Luckily, there is no shortage of trouble in Kanto. Unluckily, I'm never the first person people want to go to when trouble happens. I have a reputation. People don't want someone like me unless I'm the only choice they have left. Of course, my rates don't help with that but economics tends to win over for me there. After all, when there is a supply of one, demand skyrockets.

I was about to give up for the day. Once the clock struck ten people were more likely to be snuggled up in bed than out looking for someone to take care of their problems. Of course there's always an exception.

I sighed as the door opened. There were only four people on the planet who knew me well enough to walk in without knocking. Two of them would be out of the city for a while, catching a few 'mons for the local PD. Apparently a pack of wild growlithes had been raiding the food stores near the Saffron district. Not that it would take them both to handle it, but SilphCo's HQ always got special treatment. The third person and I had a falling out a few months back; chances are she wasn't stopping by any time soon. The last person however…

"Hello, Professor, how can I help you today?"

Professor Oak stared at me from under his messy bangs. He had stopped grooming himself after SilphCo let him go, no point in looking good when nobody was going to come calling I guess, but he still had the patent rights to some of the greatest technological advances in existence. The money didn't make him any less bitter though.

"It's the others Red. They're missing, all three of them."

I froze. If Oak had come to tell me this then there was no doubt about it. The others were missing. Three of the best trainers that I had ever seen disappeared at the same time. Somebody was making a move. This kind of power play didn't come cheap and there were only a few people who could profit from this event.

"What do you mean missing? How could all three of them be missing without a battle half the city would notice?"

"All I know is that Green and Blue never made it to the Saffron district and that Yellow's family hasn't seen her since this morning. All three of them just vanished. Hell, even Dex can't find them, and he keeps track of everything in the city."

"What about their 'mons? Are they missing too?"

"Yes. And there was no sign of a struggle, no evidence that a battle had ever happened."

"_Brilliant!_ You know what this means right? One of _them_ is making a move. With those three out of the way, any of the big eight could make a grab. If a war breaks out, even the Elite Four will have a hard time keeping the peace."

"Which is why I came to you. Right now there are a lot of people looking to profit from this, and if anyone can figure this out in time, it's you."

I didn't answer. I didn't have too. Oak was right and we both knew it. The four of us had saved each other's lives more often than I can count. Nobody messed with one of us without the others getting involved. Of course, that had been over a year ago, before I became a PI. Since then almost everyone had forgotten about the fourth trainer, the one who simply vanished into obscurity after Rocket tried to take over. Now I was just another face in the crowd, a stranger who looked years older than he should.

I got up and walked over to the TV. There was a small lever hidden behind the set which opened up a hidden door in the wall. I led the professor into the elevator and hit down. A small cart waiting at the bottom took us to my garden. The unpaid bills might not all be fake, but I was not quite as decrepit as I wanted people to believe. Of course, that didn't mean I wouldn't have to reach into some pockets I'd rather not be emptying to stay solvent for the foreseeable future. The garden was my own place. It rested about half a mile outside the city where no humans went and wild pokemon were kept out by a series of repel emitting flowers that I'd gotten from Erika in exchange for tracking down some thieves for her.

The Professor sighed as we entered the garden. "I still don't see why you stay in that crappy office when you could have become just as famous as the others. You threw away everything just to stay off a few people's radars."

"I grew up in that neighborhood. We all did. I live there because it's what I know and what I care about. The fancy districts don't have half the heart of Pallet."

"Pallet is a dump. Even the big eight don't think it's worth owning anymore, Red. The way things are now the entire district will be condemned in a matter of years."

"They'll have to go through me first."

Oak just shook his head. It was an old argument. He knew why I chose to stay in Pallet. After all, even after Rocket managed to destroy the lab in their attack, the reason for their attack was still there. The others didn't understand why I chose to stay there to guard it instead of moving to one of the better districts with them. After all, nobody knew how that thing worked, and even Rockets had given up on it. But I couldn't bring myself to agree with that. Whatever it did, it was bad. I could feel its aura from half a block away and if somebody got their hands on it, anything could happen.

I glanced at Oak's face, glad that he decided to drop the discussion for now. We kept silent as we walked to the center of the garden. A small house stood there. I'd had it built to look just like the one I'd grown up in, the one that Rocket's pokemon had burned to the ground. Oak waited outside while I got what I needed. My red jacket sat neatly folded on a shelf in my room. I didn't need it for the weather, but there were still a few people out there who recognized what wearing it made me. I grabbed my old cap and flipped onto my head, the closest thing to taming my hair I'd ever been able to do , and loosely adorned my belt. Lastly I grabbed my earpiece, my connection to Dex. Back downstairs I paused before going into the kitched and getting a pair of red-lensed sunglasses that I had bought a few years back. Yellow had hated how they covered my eyes, but today was not the day to be worrying about that.

Oak was waiting impatiently as I walked outside. He nodded at the jacket and gave the smallest hint of a smile. "I'm glad to see the old thing still fits. You never did seem right without it on."

I smirked at the old man and turned to the forest near my home. "Pika! We've got a job to do!"

My old friend bounded out of the forest and jumped into my arms. Pika was one of the first pokemon I'd ever caught, and definitely the best friend I'd made in my youth. The small mouse shouted excitedly as I spun with it in my arms. Even after three years together we were still the best tag team out there. After Pikachu calmed down and settled on my shoulder we went searching for my other pokemon. It had been less than a day since they saw me, after all I didn't sleep in my office when there wasn't work to be done, and most of them were right where I saw them last. Poli was swimming in the river, Saur was taking a nap in the clearing just a few yards downstream from him, Snor was sleeping right next to him, and Vee walked out of the underbrush when he heard me talking to the others. Lastly we went to get Aero, who stayed on top of the cliff behind my house.

Oak waited patiently for me to collect my pokemon, he knew that I wasn't just wasting time but he was still eager to get back to the city. He didn't talk on the cart ride back and I was grateful for it. I kept running my free hand over the pokeballs on my belt and making sure they were all there. Pika sat happily on my shoulder, feeling the wind on his face. I had explained to my pokemon what had happened and they all eagerly agreed to go with me. Normally I wouldn't bother to take them all, normally I wouldn't expect a serious enough fight to break out to need more than one or two of them. Today I wasn't taking that chance.

The professor and I parted ways when we reached the end of the tunnel. He was a genius but there wasn't much he could do to help me now and we both knew it. I watched him drive away and hopped onto my bike. The motor purred nicely beneath me as I revved the engine. Before the Professor's car disappeared I knew the first stop I had to make. It was time to see if the Boulder Gang knew anything about the others. I headed north to the Pewter District.


	3. Chapter 2: I Hate Fissure

Ch. 2: I Hate Fissure

It was nearly midnight when I pulled into the Viridian Sector. Despite the seemingly abandoned streets I quickly cut the engine and switched the bike into manual. Nobody was really sure what happened in Viridian nowadays. Technically, Rocket had collapsed years ago, but the district still hadn't managed to rebuild itself. It took more than that to forget what happened here.

_*Celebi used Flashback!*_

It was raining. Later on I would have found that ironic. After all, pokemon battles look much cooler when it's raining, and today would be the last pokemon battle I was ever excited for. How could I not? I was battling the leader of the Rockets and the man singlehandedly responsible for drawing the Big 8 into a stalemate.

Giovanni had challenged me to a one on one battle. If I won, I could ask for anything in his power to give. If he won I had to join Rocket. If I had been asked to make that decision two weeks later I would have punched him. I accepted.

I never claimed to be smart.

I don't really remember how long that battle lasted. The first lesson a trainer learns is that his pokemon fight with him, not for him. A true trainer will be standing right by his pokemon's side. He puts as much effort and heart into every battle as all of his pokemon combined. Giovanni may have been a bastard, a thief, and a liar, but he was also a true trainer. I thought that I was too. I thought that my team could take on anyone.

Giovanni wasn't just anyone. He was taunting me, playing to my ego and my inexperience. I called out Poli. Giovanni was a ground type specialist and I assumed I'd be able to take him out with a type advantage, but his dugtrio had dug a trap beneath our feet. My poliwrath was taken out as soon as his feet hit the ground. I jumped after him, desperate to catch him before he fell, but I was too late. I watched my oldest pokemon fall into the darkness below.

Poli was out for the count, and I didn't have time to think about which pokemon I would use next. I desperately reached for a pokeball and prayed it would be enough. Aero didn't give the Rocket Leader a chance to attack; he grabbed me and took to the air immediately after I got his ball open. I flipped myself onto Aero's back and took the chance to look at the field below. Dugtrio may have taken out half of the field already, but he couldn't reach us up here.

I had to quickly brace as Aero banked to the side. I quickly scanned the sky for what had spooked my pokemon. Finally, my eyes landed on Giovanni. I glared at his smirk and followed his gaze to the ground a few feet in front of him.

"Aero, dive!"

My pokemon didn't question me and broke into a steep dive toward the hole where I had once been standing. Giovanni's rhyhorn passed above my head using rollout, the wind from his flight taking my hat with it. He had been using his dugtrio to spring rhyhorn into the sky like a pinball.

I had lost the sky, Aero was fast but he just couldn't maneuver like the smaller birds could. I wouldn't be able to dodge those rollouts for long. But I couldn't keep going through pokemon like this. I had to take at least one of his out while I had the chance.

"Aero take us up!"

Aero quickly rose to the top of the gym. My hair was brushing the ceiling, but it wasn't quite enough. I waited for his rhyhorn to attack again.

"Left Now!"

Rhyhorn's rollout scraped Aero's belly as he plunged into the ceiling. I nudged Aero and he quickly made his way through the hole and into the pouring rain outside. When we were finally high enough I whispered my plan to Aero.

Giovanni was glaring at the hole in the ceiling. Apparently he thought I was running away, but his frown quickly turned back into a smirk when he saw my aerodactyl dive through the ceiling towards him. He ordered his rhyhorn to launch again, but Aero was ready. Aero kept diving straight down, the rhyhorn passing far above him and pulled up, flying just a few feet above the ground, into a sky attack. Giovanni's smirk fell as Aero's attack ran straight into dugtrio and took them both out of the fight. Giovanni glanced at Aero's unconscious body and his eyes widened.

Saur crashed through the ceiling above Giovanni's head. It held me safely away from its body on a vine and flipped so that its back was aimed right at the gangster. Giovanni urgently called over his rhyhorn and slammed a new pokeball to the ground to protect him from Saur's attack. The red petals on my pokemons back began to spin and glow with a white energy as the light from Giovanni's pokeball spread around him. Saur launched his solar beam but Giovanni's pokemon were already in the way. His rhyhorn was out cold, but the nidoqueen he had just called out stood strong.

Saur used a vine it had left attached to the roof to flip itself upright before hitting the ground with a heavy thud. It gently set me down next to it and faced its new opponent. Despite its confidence, I knew that it only had a few more attacks before it didn't have enough energy left to fight. I had been betting a lot on that solar beam winning this for us, and I wasn't prepared for another pokemon so quickly.

I scanned Giovanni's new pokemon. Nidoqueen had definitely taken some damage from Saur's solar beam, but it was far from defeated. It appeared that the damage had mostly been focused on her right side, the left having been protected by rhyhorn. I signaled to Saur and he launched a razor leaf at her right side. The nidoqueen moved faster than I had been expecting. It quickly pivoted on its left foot and slipped out of the razor leafs path before bringing its right foot down hard on the ground.

"Saur! She's using fissure!"

Saur jumped to the right and pulled me along with it. The fissure missed me, but it scraped along Saur's left legs, completely immobilizing them.

I hate fissure.

Saur couldn't walk anymore, but he had enough strength for one more attack, so I hopped onto his back and gave him one last command. Saur launched out as many vines as it could, wrapping them around the columns lining the walls, and stretched them back. Giovanni had his nidoqueen prepare to use another fissure but it was too late. Saur used his vines to launch himself over the nidoqueens head and use bod slam on the unprepared pokemon.

Both of our pokemon were out of the fight, but the battle wasn't over yet. Saur's vines had been the last push the old columns needed to fall apart, and the building with them. When I saw the roof collapsing I quickly called Saur back into his ball before pulling another off of my belt. I opened the ball and Snor materialized above me, his large body absorbing the blow from the falling roof.

As the sound of the building's collapse faded, Snor pushed himself to his feet and dusted himself off. I smiled and was about to call him back when I heard the rubble shifting behind me. I turned to see a nidoking rising up with Giovanni in its arms. Giovanni hopped out of his pokemon's grip and stared at me. I glared back and called Snor forward.

Our pokemons' eyes locked just like ours and the two behemoths charged each other. Thunder roared in the distance as our pokemon clashed, locking each other's hand in a vice-like grip and pushing with all of their strength. Snor used mega kick and tried to knock his opponent off balance but the nidoking countered with one of his own and the pokemon were forced apart.

Giovanni's nidoking charged forward and prepared a horn drill but Snor was ready. Snor grabbed his opponent before its horn could reach him and threw it into the air with a seismic toss.

"Snor Hyper Beam Now!"

Snor's hyper beam hit the falling nidoking and knocked it away from the building. I smirked and looked at Giovanni.

"Ready to give up yet?"

"Not quite, I still have one pokemon left. Do you think you can handle it?"

"Bring it, me and Snor can take anything you throw at us."

"Is that so?" Giovanni's voice grew even colder and the ground began to shake. From the rubble behind Giovanni, a rhydon appeared. It had already started using earthquake and Snor was having trouble keeping its balance. Before Snor could recover the rhydon charged forward and unleashed a hyper beam in Snor's face.

Snor fought to remain standing but quickly fell to the side and fainted. I stared at my fallen pokemon in disbelief. And then my disbelief turned into anger. Giovanni walked over to his rhydon and had it lift him onto its shoulder. He glanced down and stared into straight into my eyes. I turned around and dug through the rubble and the leader of the Rockets laughed.

"What do you think you're doing? Hope to find some useful pokemon in the ruins? I know very well that your evee's pokeball is damaged and that the only pokemon you have left is pikachu! Do you really think that an electric type like that is enough to take on my rhydon!? It's Hopeless! Your pikachu couldn't even launch a single attack before my pokemon crushed it."

I remained silent and pulled my hat out of the rubble. Giovanni's laughter grew as I dusted off the hat and placed it tightly on my head, pulling it down to shade my eyes. But he stopped when he saw me glaring at him from beneath the brim of the hat, my red eyes glowing with rage. I reached down and tapped Pika's ball before gripping it as tightly as I could.

"You have stolen pokemon to experiment on them. You sat back and laughed as hundreds dies in the destruction your team rocket caused. You hurt my friends. You hurt my family. You hurt my pokemon. Someone like you doesn't get to use the word hopeless. You can't understand the pain that the people of this city have been through. You don't understand the hope they still hold in their hearts! This. Ends. Now!" I forced my spasming arm into motion, launching high into the air at Rhydons face. "Pika! Use thunderbolt."

Pika emerged from his ball and latched onto rhydon's horn. The storm around us pelted the two pokemon as Pika's red cheeks began to glow a bluish white and electricity sparked around him onto the falling drops. A massive thunderbolt came down from the sky and hit Pika. Then another. And another. Eventually, Pika was channeling a total of six lightning bolts into the other pokemon.

I watched as Giovanni began to scream. The lightning that rhydon wasn't hit with all found its way into him. I forced myself to stare as his hair burnt off and his skin began to melt. I smelt his muscle cooking under the intense energy. I heard his screams ringing through the empty streets.

I had won the battle. At the time, that was enough for me.

_*Flashback End*_

I glanced down at my gloved left hand and kept riding. The gloves were a gift from Yellow. She said they were for _my_ comfort, to ease old memories. I didn't believe her.

I was about to turn onto the shortcut to Pewter when I caught sight of an empty street veering off to the right. I turned. Giovanni was an evil conniving man, but he was still the best trainer I had ever face. He deserved at least some respect. I got off my bike and bowed my head to the statue that had once been in the building's lobby. After my battle with Giovanni it was the closest thing to a gravestone the man would ever have.

I didn't spend long at the grave. It was almost dawn and I needed to get to the Pewter District before the sane people were out of bed. I returned to my bike and rode onward, into Viridian Forest.


	4. Chapter 3: Kill you Quickly

**AN: After months of writer's block, chapters for 3 other stories, and way more frustration than it should have been. I present to you, Red of the Six Ch. 3.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own pokemon**

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Chapter 3: Kill You Quickly.

There are a few rules to follow when going through Viridian Forest:

Stick to the Path, walking through the trees is guaranteed to get you killed.

Stay absolutely quiet, the pokemon here aren't afraid to follow loud noises when they're hungry.

Don't be tempted by the items, they're usually left there by pokemon for an ambush.

I learned most of these rules the hard way. Except the thing about items; who the hell thinks it's a good idea to explore in a land notorious for beedrills?

Keeping that in mine I got off my bike and sent it through my PTU. The marker on it had a lock on my garage and it would stay there till I called it again. Pika whined at the loss of easy transport, so I scratched him behind the ears and helped him to calm down. He didn't like this place any more than I did; and he was born here. Pika perched on my shoulder and stared at the forest ahead.

"Pika, pikaaa. Pi_ka_chu.

I nodded in thanks. Always good to have a lookout. I pulled off my glasses and pulled out a special pair Oak had given me a few years back. Apparently he figured out how to make them by studying a tentacruel's eyes. According to Yellow they even lit up the Dark Cave like a Flash.

Once upon a time the forest was well traveled. It had been a good place for the hopefuls to see pokemon without worrying too much about being attacked. But that was before Rocket. Giovanni's scientists had been making something in his gym. Whatever it was it managed to piss off the pokemon here. Six, no seven, years ago the pokemon here changed. They began evolving rapidly, years before they should have been able to, and they attacked everyone. It took three weeks for people to realize it wasn't a fluke. Ten people died. 14 are still in a coma.

I shook the memories away and started down the path. I hadn't tried to walk through Viridian for almost four years now. Normally I would wade my way through the central hub, Indigo Tower, but today I don't have time for the checkpoints. Even this late it would take hours to get to Pewter. The forest was faster, idiotically dangerous, but faster.

I came to the first turn. Yellow told me the local rule, turn right at every fork. Apparently it was the safest path. I had my own rule, avoid the tall grass. Sounds silly I know. With my pokemon, there shouldn't be anything around here strong enough to take me on. Of course, that implies that the mons will follow the rules. And wild mons never follow rules. Especially the bugs. Maybe somewhere there are bugs that work solo, but here they always swarm.

I walked down the path carefully. Pika turned every which way, watching for anything that might block my path. I kept my ears open and stepped lightly, there aren't many pokemon you can't hear coming if you try hard enough.

I came up to the next turn and considered my options. I knew the path on the right was the safer route, bugs couldn't ambush you so easily if they had to come out of the tall grass. But the left path cut the trail nearly in half and I was running short on time. Reluctantly, I placed my hand near my belt and walked into the tall grass.

Pika shifted uncomfortably and the foliage around us got denser and the branches hung lower. The sound of my footsteps shuffling through the grass echoed dangerously through the forest and I had to force my heartbeat to slow down.

Halfway through the grass.

I thought I heard a buzzing sound off to my left. I jumped back and grabbed onto Vee's ball. After I had rescued her from Rocket's genetics lab, we had become fast friends, and I knew I could trust her to take care of any beedrills that got too close. Her fur was especially thick and it would take a lot of force to her one of those thin stingers through it.

I stood there waiting to hear the sounds of their swarm approach, but it never came. After a moment I forced myself to relax, it must have been a scout, it wouldn't be a threat unless it thought I was an easier target than local wildlife. I should be fine.

I tried to walk forward but my left leg wouldn't move. I tugged on it and it dragged behind me like a we noodle. I tried to focus on the problem, there had to be a reason for its sudden lack of movement. But I couldn't keep my mind in check, it kept wandering through false trails and dead ends. And it didn't help that I was so damn tired. It was like I hadn't slept in days. But I had slept that morning and I was no snorlax. "Hehe. Snorlax."

I looked up and saw some pretty shapes floating above me. I reached out trying to catch one of the purple blobs dancing in front of my eyes. I lunged forward to grab one but my left leg held me back and I fell flat on my face. The last thoughts that entered my mind before I fell unconscious was that I really wish I could catch one of those purple things. They looked so cute.

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I don't know how long I was unconscious for. I could see the glow of dawn peeking out over the trees, but for some reason my brain couldn't compare that to the time I had fallen asleep. I tried to move my arm, to look at my watch, but it was stuck. I lifted my head and glanced at my limbs. They were all covered in a white stick webbing. String Shot. I looked to my right and saw Pika, still unconscious, cocooned so only its head was showing. I didn't see any puncture wounds on either of us. That meant it wasn't beedrills or weedles. That really only left one option. I glanced up and saw them. Hundreds of them. Butterfrees. Normally their harmless, but get enough of them together and they can drop an entire herd of Tauros. It seemed like they hit me with a powder barrage. That explained what happened earlier. Paralyze, Confusion and Sleep. That meant I was probably poisoned too. I looked to my left and saw the grass moving. Caterpie. Crap. That meant this was a proper nest. I knew if I looked carefully enough I'd see metapods too, hanging from the high branches.

Normally this particular chain doesn't gather in nests like this. But if enough hives of the beedrill chain form in a single area then they would gather together in order to hoard food and defend their young. I must've stumbled into their territory when I went through the grass. That's why the beedrill didn't attack me. It knew not to enter their nest. I felt something on my right arm and glanced down. There were five or six caterpie crawling on my arm. Covering it with more string shot. The free clan are herbivores you see. They didn't have any desire to eat me. Instead they would keep me here and wait for me to die. Then they'd spray me with an acidic coating to speed up my decay. I'd be fertilizer within the month. They were working slowly, but they'd cover me completely in a few minutes. Everything but my head. They always make sure the captive can still breathe. It has something to do with the presence of oxygen in the blood, speeds up decay.

At least beedrills kill you quickly.

They hadn't started on my left arm yet, it just had enough string on it to hold me down. I looked closely and saw my left hand was still close to my belt. If I reached I could get to one of my pokeballs. But the confusion hadn't worn off yet. I wasn't sure which pokemon it was, and if I grabbed the wrong ball then the situation would only get worse. There were two pokemon that could get me out of this. I jerked my left hand and clicked the ball.

A red light burst forth and I held my breath as it took shape. Vee came forth and landed on top of my chest. I didn't have time to be excited. "Bee, thunder form! Now."

Instantly her brown coat took a yellowish hue and her fur floated off of her body as if she were standing on a vent. Her normally brown eyes turned a dark gold and static danced across her tail. "Thunder Wave!"

The butterfree hadn't been surprised for long. By the time I had spoken they had already closed in and were dropping their spores. Vee unleashed a wave of electricity from her entire body and it domed out around her. I had to brace myself to make sure it wouldn't paralyze me, but the bugs weren't so lucky. The amount of electricity in thunder wave is only enough to stun most larger pokemon and people, but against something as small as a bug type, especially the ones in Viridian Forest, it was more than enough. One by one the bugs seized up as the electricity passed through them like a mobile bug zapper.

The butterfrees fell dead all around me. Vee's fur turned back to brown and she walked over to Pika to wake him up. That was the effect of Rocket's experiments. They had messed with Vee's unstable DNA, trying to force it into an evolution capable of holding more than 2 types. They hadn't quite succeeded. Vee had gained three forms, each one capable of unleashing a single type specific technique or resisting a single move before reverting back to its base state. I tugged on my left arm and freed it from the string. I spent the next few minutes pulling at each of my limbs until they were completely free. I reached into my bag and grabbed three antidotes, one for each of us. I administered them and glanced up. The metapods were still hanging off the branches, high enough to be out of Vee's range. Good. I didn't want to be responsible for the entire nest's destruction.

Vee gently prodded at Pika, hoping to wake him up, but he wouldn't budge. I performed a quick scan on him and saw that he was alive and cured, but his health was low. I needed to get him to a Pokemon Center fast.

I called him back to his ball and Vee looked up at me expectantly. "Sorry Vee. Would you mind sticking with me for a bit longer? I need a new lookout."

"Vee! _Ee_vee."

I smiled at my pokemon and lifted her on top of my head. The ball would keep Pikachu in stasis until we reached the center, but I still had to hurry. I reached down and retied my shoes. I couldn't afford to go slowly anymore. I ran down the path and through the forest. Vee clung tightly to the top of my head, barking a warning whenever a pokemon was in sight. I would dash around the pokemon, ducking through trees and hopping over creeks, until I could reemerge on the path.

I was close, the entrance to the Pewter district was just ahead. But Vee's bark stopped me. I could see a beedrill hive attached just above the exit from Viridian. I didn't have time to fight fair.

"Vee, Fire Form!"

Vee ros up on her haunches, the brown in her fur turning a red-orange and her claws eating up until I felt my hair singing. Her eyes changed, her irises flowing from red to yellow like lava. Her tail flared up and heat waves rose from it.

"Flame Thrower!"

Vee reared back and unleashed a stream of red fire, hitting the hive and knocking it to the ground. The beedrills swarmed around, panicked at their hive's destruction. A few turned their eyes towards me, but I couldn't care. I vaulted over the hive and into the morning sun of the Pewter District.


End file.
